1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to making automatic settings for content delivery on mobile devices. More specifically, received sensor inputs are used by a processor to determine whether the mobile device user is engaged in a specific physical activity, and a control setting for delivering content can be automatically set during a period the specific activity is detected.
2. Description of the Related Art
Current portable (e.g., mobile) devices, such as tablets and smartphones, are equipped with motion sensors, often called accelerometers, which detect the orientation of the device and can help determining whether the user is moving the device or shaking it. This capability has been used for several purposes, such as adjusting the orientation of the screen of applications, shuffling songs while using a music player, and for various other functionalities in games and other applications. New portable devices and accessories are likely to incorporate physiological sensors that help to track the performance of users while carrying out physical activities, environmental sensors that monitor the conditions of the environment where the user is located, and sensing capabilities, such as a global positioning system (GPS) interface, for precisely tracking the user's location.
One prior art reference in this area provides an apparatus to alert a user of the arrival of an incoming message based on the user's physiological parameters. Another existing mechanism proposes different types of message delivery and response when a user refuses to receive an incoming message or ways of choosing different delivery options based on user preferences. Similar to these approaches, another method redirects Web pages based on the user context such as user location.
In other conventional methods, there are also advertisement systems that take into account the user's activity and systems for delivering customized content to be displayed on exercise devices based on the user's profile.
Yet another prior art mechanism proposes a method that selects specific content based on pre-defined conditions. That approach considers adjustment on content based on user activities. Methods for activity recognition have been proposed.
There is also prior art that adapts the behavior of an application based upon user activity but this method does not perform content adaptation based on the user physical activity. Another existing work proposes method for rule-based content delivery or advertisement but does not consider the physical activity or other sensor information.
The present inventors have recognized that these approaches do not provide a method for message delivery customization as based on the user's current location and activity. They have also recognized that these conventional approaches do not utilize recent advances in shared computing infrastructure that potentially permit an even higher level of delivery customization for mobile devices, as based on accessing information available from multiple users of portable devices that have connected to a shared computing infrastructure.